CINCINNATI - After a nearly three-hour meeting, Thursday morning at The Seven Hills School, Miami Valley Conference has offered football-only associate memberships to Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon. No consensus could be reached among athletic directors at the conference schools according to Seven Hills AD Brian Phelps.

"I've been in contact with both Purcell and Roger Bacon about some potential options of associate membership," Phelps said. "It's kind of up to them what they're willing to consider or not consider. Where that goes from there is anybody's guess. There's a couple different scenarios to see if they have interest in that."

The Miami Valley Conference expanded by two last season with the addition of Norwood and Miami Valley Christian Academy. Cincinnati College Prep joined for football-only last fall as did Dayton Christian in 2013-14. No other schools are currently being considered.

"Roger Bacon and Purcell are the only two at this point we're considering that (football-only) being an option," Phelps said.

Should Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon leave the GCL-Coed football configuration, McNicholas would remain the only Cincinnati school with Badin and Fenwick being their closest league opponents.

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Purcell Marian players stand during the National Anthem in the OHSAA Regional, Trent Arena, Kettering, Ohio, Wed. March 14, 2018(Photo: Michael Noyes for the Enquirer)

If the GCL-Coed were to drop to six schools for football, McNicholas becomes "road warriors". Their closest opponent would be Fenwick 47 miles away. Badin is 50 miles away, Alter 62.2, Chaminade-Julienne 65.4 and Carroll 70.3. Road trips currently run 45 to 90 minutes to those venues.

As a proactive measure, the GCL-Coed has explored a scheduling alliance with Columbus-area Catholic schools as a scheduling fix with a six-team conference. That option may be explored should Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon remain in the league.

"I can tell you that we will give it the thought process it deserves before we make a decision," Roger Bacon AD Steve Rossi said of the MVC scenario.

McNicholas remains committed to the GCL-Coed, which still would include Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon for basketball and other sports under the current situation.

"At this point, we're only looking at football," Phelps said. "The unofficial invitation is basically gauging their interest if they'd be willing to explore associate membership only for football."